“The secret to Italian cuisine? Taste while you cook.” This was the tip my Roman landlady, Paola, gave me the day we made a zucchini and olive oil pasta sauce with the vegetables we bought at the tiny grocer under the apartment she was renting me for a summer during college. Since then, I’ve learned that sampling while you cook is key for any kind of cuisine.

For an initiation to explicitly Italian cooking, where freshness and common sense reign, head no farther than to the Gaslamp Quarter for Bice’s new cooking class, “Son of a Bice.” For one of the sessions, I sat between a woman who may be Bice’s best customer — Diane Parks, 68, who eats there a few times a week and even dined there on its opening day — and Brian Carvalho, 55, a private chef who takes cooking courses around the world. Both agreed this class was eye-opening.

In two five-hour sessions, Cassineri teaches basics, like knife skills while chopping vegetables (left) and scallop cooking times (right), and advanced techniques like how to keep gnocchi fluffy.

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In two five-hour sessions, Cassineri teaches basics, like knife skills while chopping vegetables (left) and scallop cooking times (right), and advanced techniques like how to keep gnocchi fluffy.

In two five-hour sessions that repeat every month through November, Mario Cassineri, Bice’s executive chef, teaches students how to take apart and put together two extensive menus. More valuable than the recipes are his continual quasi stream-of-consciousness explanations. How to keep pesto green? Throw in some fresh Italian parsley. That won’t kill the basil’s punch but preserves its color better. How to get your gnocchi fluffier than a putti’s cloud? Be stingy with the flour, which weighs down the dough, and use starchy tubers Russet or Idaho (not dense new potatoes).

He also pauses to let students taste, touch, hear and smell things. Attendance is capped at 15, and there were fewer students both days, so we got many chances to interact. We poked the squid ink gnocchi dough at various degrees of moistness. We dunked our heads into one steaming casserole after another to inhale the aromas of wild things simmering.

“What the people have to understand is this: You have to smell everything,” he said, to audible aahs as the pot approached different noses.

The course goes far beyond demonstrations. It is an induction into his sumptuous and sensible way of thinking about cooking. As he rolled pasta dough by hand and cut fettuccine strips with a knife, he said the magic words that connect some to history and tradition, when others can only learn or steal — “This is the way my mother used to do it.” Then he unfurled the noodles. They had a bounciness to them, unlike the fettuccine you can pick up in the grocer’s fresh pasta aisle. Cellphone cameras came out.

“For us in Italy it’s so easy, because it’s cultural,” he said later. “It’s so easy, when you have the knowledge. This is what I want to show you.”

Afternoon cooking class at Bice restauant in the Gaslamp District by the place’s Executive Chef Mario Cassineri -

Afternoon cooking class at Bice restauant in the Gaslamp District by the place’s Executive Chef Mario Cassineri -

One refrain: “Don’t exaggerate,” which he used almost every time he added salt or the creamy ingredients that could tempt less disciplined (or simply more French?) cooks into making heavy dishes. One of his goals for the course, as in the restaurant, is to let people leave without feeling like they’re dissolving a bowling ball. Cassineri’s other key message: “Respect your food.”

Those who have dined at Bice will be familiar with Cassineri’s cuisine. And those who have dined in Italy, far from its tourist avenues, will recognize his approach as both authentic and fresh. At 40, Cassineri is still young among chefs, but he’s accomplished a lot. He moves around the kitchen like a teenage soccer player, but his authority is complete. Maybe it’s an effect of starting work at 15. One of the reasons he’s doing the class is to do more cooking and less business development, he said.

At one point Francesca Penoncelli, Bice’s cheerful, cerebral cheesemonger, stepped in to lead a wine and cheese pairing. Servers were on hand to pour bottomless coffee and dole out small plates of what the class prepared, and students left with enough sauces, pastas and desserts for a few dinners at home.

Maybe they also left with an understanding of the logic of those simple, elegant recipes, and the beauty behind that logic.

Laura MgGee, 54, came from Carlsbad for the first class with her son, who was about to head off to college. She returned by herself for part two. She called Cassineri “a purist, for sure. So dedicated to his ingredients. He has such respect for his ingredients, which brings respect to him.”

But the class is not stuffy or all serious. It’s called “Son of a Bice,” for prosciutto’s sake.

Prepare scallops: Chop the fresh herbs. Season each scallop with a sprinkle of olive oil, salt and the herbs. (Pro tip: Use a knife to draw a grid or stripe pattern on the scallops’ flat surfaces, for an aesthetic finish.) Set aside for 10 minutes, while preparing the vegetables.

To make vegetable strings: Julienne the zucchini, peppers and leeks and sauté them in the oil with the shallot. Set aside.

To make saffron sauce: In a separate saucepan, heat the heavy cream with the saffron. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and let it reduce for 12 minutes, or until desired consistency is reached. Season with salt at the end, to taste. (Pro tip: Less salt is more, since the scallops will also be seasoned.)

To cook scallops: Pan sear the scallops for one minute on each side, over high heat.

To assemble: Spoon a few tablespoons of saffron sauce in the center of each plate. Lay a quarter of the vegetable strings in a small bundle on top of the sauce. Arrange three scallops in a triangle on top of each vegetable bundle. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.